Update the Second: New Stories Now Available

Now that we’ve gotten the editorial stuff out of the way, I’d like to talk for a moment about myself as a writer. It so happens that I’ve had several absolutely fantastic stories come out in magazines and anthologies since my last update, and I’m woefully behind on shamelessly begging you to check them out.

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First up, we have “The High Cost of Answers,” appearing in Utter Fabrication: Historical Accounts of Unusual Buildings and Structures, produced by Mad Scientist Journal. In this sequel to “The Strange Case of Rebecca Rice,” private detective Nat MacDonald is once again on the case. This time, she’s looking for a number of people who’ve gone missing in Puxhill’s mysterious Gaslight District. With some help from her ghostly girlfriend Rebecca, and some costly advice from the capricious Jay Willoughby, Nat has to venture deep into the heart of Puxhill to confront an ancient evil…

 

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Next, we have “An Afternoon in the Park with the Coyote Brothers,” which appears in Dark Luminous Wings, by Pole to Pole Publishing. In this YA-aimed story, 17-year-old Suzume’s afternoon is disrupted when the unpredictable Coyote Brothers wander into her after-school place of employment. But when they sense something weird about her, their efforts to bring out her hidden supernatural side turn both comic and philosophical… I happen to love this story: it’s one of the first pieces I wrote in class at Hollins, and the Coyote Brothers are personal favorites of mine, just because they provide so much room for mischief and mayhem.

 

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After that, there’s my short piece, “Saint Urban and the Peril of the Predatory Pontiff” – Crimson Streets Magazine, currently available for free online. It’s one of the strangest, most literal interpretations of “urban fantasy” you’ll see all week. As the world waits for a new Pope to be announced, a supernatural battle between good and evil rages under the Vatican, between its secret defender and its great shame. I wrote this as a response to a double dog dare, and I’m still amazed I got away with it. And that my Catholic in-laws, bless their hearts, are still talking to me…

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But wait! There’s more! There’s also “The Mermaid’s Knife” in Distressing Damsels out of Fantasia Divinity Magazine. Also written for one of my Hollins classes, this YA piece is an unofficial sequel to the Little Mermaid fairy tale. What happens if the nameless mermaid in question falls out of myth and becomes a real girl in modern-day Puxhill? And what if the sea witch’s knife, thought lost forever, turns up one day… and demands that she use it to fulfill its purpose. It wants blood, and she can’t resist forever. I owe the existence of this story to the fabulous Delia Sherman and the rest of my Genre Fantasy class for making it awesome and weird.

 

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Finally, if you’re in the mood for one of my erotic stories, there’s “The Hateful Chime” in Like a Spell: Earth, from Circlet Press. This was my reaction to dealing with grad school, by writing about the stresses and challenges of dealing with -magical- grad school. Come see what it’s like in the secret Arcane Arts department at Puxhill’s Tuesday University, and find out how one young woman specializing in dance and movement magic helps an alchemist overcome certain scholastic hangups…

 

Whew! That’s about it. Please, go pick these anthologies up, or check my stories out. Every purchase, and especially every review, is greatly appreciated. More so if you mention me specifically. 🙂

 


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